Friday, 13 March 2015

There’s a lot here. I might try to update more regularly in smaller increments to see how it works.

Books

How was the modern world build? Johnson shows that through the pervasive use of glass with its optical characteristics, understanding and building infrastructure to separate the clean from the dirty, the amplified ability to project and perceive sounds, the ubiquity of electric lighting, and the precise measurement and calculation of and with time, our modern world emerges from a world hardly imaginable not too long ago.

Computers, the ubiquitous thinking machines we now carry in our pockets and wear on wrists, had its first uses as calculators for modeling nuclear explosions, building the hydrogen bomb, and predict the weather. Dyson show the quirky team of mathematicians and engineers, philosophers and physicists, led by John von Neumann and following Turing’s seminal thesis, that laid the foundation of the architecture in this digital universe still in use today.

Thanks to my friend Justin for the recommendation. In this book, Newport argues that contrary to the belief that one should do where passion leads, it is a better alternative to build a rare and valuable skill, build up “career capital”, and in turn grow into position endowed with aspects that one can enjoy, such as autonomy and purpose. I still believe that passion is important in one’s work, but I’m glad Newport has contributed another viewpoint in the diverse view on career path.

The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies